Hot on the heels of the news that WandaVision scored a whopping 23 Emmy nominations comes a little piece of info that may be of interest to Star Trek fans. Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions have reportedly beamed up Matt Shakman, who helmed all eight episodes of WandaVision, to direct the next Star Trek movie.

Deadline reports that the next Star Trek film “will now move at warp speed and begin production next spring.” There is already a script in place by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson.

This news comes out of nowhere, so let’s try to do some transwarp beaming and catch up with it.

Beyond Star Trek Beyond

It’s been a full half-decade now since Star Trek Beyond, the third and last entry in the so-called Kelvin Timeline, or reboot film series, which began with Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek (arguably still his best film). Since then, Star Trek has entered a kind of development limbo, if not outright hell. We heard that Quentin Tarantino was working on his own R-rated Star Trek movie, one that would be like Pulp Fiction in space. This didn’t sit well with some fans; as far back as four years ago, some were saying Tarantino was a terrible choice for Star Trek.

Last December seemed to put the final nail in the coffin of Tarantino’s Trek project. He continued talking up his impending retirement after ten films, making it seem less likely that he would want to end his filmography with a franchise movie penned by another screenwriter. Meanwhile, Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley was separately developing his own Star Trek movie, which was not expected to be a continuation of the Kelvin Timeline. Last November, Hawley made it seem like that project was also now dead in the water (or in the ocean of space, as it were).

Shakman actually worked for Hawley as a director on Fargo, so they have a history together. It’s not clear when Shakman became involved or if his movie will be Star Trek 4, but even Tarantino is on record saying that Chris Pine is Hollywood’s best Chris. So it would be a shame to see Pine and the crew of his Enterprise let go in favor of yet another reboot.

Deadline’s senior film reporter, Justin Kroll, has since tweeted that “while no deals are done for talent,” he’s “hearing the hope is the Shakman STAR TREK would be for the Chris Pine crew to return.” In the past, Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock to Pine’s Kirk, has also said that “there’s no guarantee” that Star Trek 4 will happen, yet he’s said that he remained hopeful it would happen eventually.

The feeling’s mutual. We’ll stay on top of this story and let you know more details about Matt Shakman’s Star Trek film as soon as they become available.

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